Improvement in machines for cutting objects from leather, cloth



I @einen STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING OBJECTS FROM LEATHER, CLOTH, dc.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,626, dated November 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, of Springfield, in the county 0f Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Outtin g Objects to Form from Leather, Cloth, or other Similar Materials; and I do hereby declare that the following is afnll, clear, and exact description ofthe construction and operationthereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specilication, in which- Figure l is a side elevation ofthe machine. Fig. 2 is an end elevation.y Fig. 3 is an elevation of the opposite end. Fig. 4 is a plan. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 6 is a vertical tra-nsverse section.

This machine is designed for the purpose of cutting various objects to form from a continuous tissue or web, and is designed to be used in all manufactures of cloth, leather, and other similar materials where a great number of pieces of the same form are required.

The machine represented in the drawings is adapted to the purpose of cutting soles from leather for boots and shoes, and is arranged to cut two soles at each operation, the construction of which will serve to explain the principles of the machine, and valso to explain the manner of using two or more dies or cutters at the same time in the machine, so as to cut several pieces at a time.

My invention consists, in the first place, in the employment, in combination with one or more cutting or shaping dies, ofa feeding and holding ap paratus for seizing the material and placing it over the dies in the proper position to be operated upon by them. This apparatus consists, substantially, of two parts first, ofa table or its equivalent upon which the material is laid and suitably held, which is made to rise and fall, in combination with the cutting apparatus, for the purpose of raising the material off from the dies, so that the nipper may seize it without coming in contact with the cuttin g-ed ges of them and, secondly, of a nipper or clamp which traverses back and forth over the dies and seizes the uncut material upon the table and draws it forward and places it over the dies in the proper position, and then releases it and retires to permit the dies to operate upon it.

My invention also relates to the manner of gi; AAV.

arranging the cutting-dies, where more than one are used, so as to enable the surplus material that is left between them to be discharged; and it consists in setting the dies with their axes inclined inward or toward each other sufficient] y to leave the space between them as large or larger at the back orlower side than it is at the edges, so that the detached Waste material may be pushed through the space by the subsequent operations.

The letters of reference in the drawings indicate like parts in all the gures.

A represents the frame of the machine, and B the main shaft, which gives motion to the operative parts.

G O are guides upon the frame, between which the cross-head D moves up an-d down, which receives its motion by means of tlie connectingrods E E from the cranks F F on the main shaft B.

Upon the frame of the machine, directlyr under the cross-head, is placed a bed, G, to which are attached, as represented in the drawings, a pair of dies, H H, for cutting the soles of boots and shoes, so that two soles can be cut at each operation. These cutting-dies are made of the exact form required to be given to the sole, andin plan are placed so that their edges touch each other, so as to leave the least possible waste material between them, as is shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, and are made in the usual way with the inside surfaces of each parallel to its axis, which requires all the bevel to form the cutting-edge to be upon the outside. If the axes of the cutters were placed parallel, it would require the edges to be placed a distance apart equal to the thickness of the material of the contiguous portions of the two cutters and waste a corresponding amount of the material to be cut, and the space also between, as shown at a, Fig. 4, would be wedge-formed with the narrow part down, so that the surplus material left between the cutters could not escape at the bottom, as is shown in Fig. 5.

In the drawing, Fig. 5, the cutters are represented with their cuttin g-ed ges made oblique to their axes, so that when placed side by side upon the bed with their axes inclined inward, as shown, their edges will be in the same horizontal plane; but they may be made with the edge of each at a right angle to its axis, if preferred, in which case the face of the follower-block d, which forces the material onto the cutters, would have -its surface made to conform to them.

The follower cl is made of wood, lead, or some other substance that will not dull the cutters, and is secured in the socket b, which is attached to the cross-head D.

K is a frame of the form shown, which is connected at one end to the frame of the machine by the hingef, which permits 'its free end to rise and fall while it is supported upon The cams g g upon the main shaft B, which act upon the bearers h h upon the under side thereof'. In each side of this frame is a long slot, z' 1'., in which the nipper-frame L slides back and forth, which carries the nippers or clamp j 7c, which draw the material forward over the cutters H H. The position of the material is shown by the red line in Fig. 5. The motion ofthe nipper-frame L is received from the path-cam b/ on the main shaft through the intervention of the forked camrod c, which embraces the shaft B and the roller c and rocker-shaft l and rocker-arms m and n, thel last of which has its outer extremity forked, and embraces the cross-bar o of the nipper-carriage. The extent of motion of the nipper-carriage is varied by lengthening or shortening the rocker-arm m by sliding it through the shaft l and securing it by the set screwl, as is shown in Figs. l, 3, and 5. The jaws of the nippers j k are each mounted on a small shaft, j kf, which work in bearings in the standards q upon the Dipper-carriage, and they are forced together lby the curved leaf-spring fr, which embraces both and is held in position by the standard s on the cross-bar ofthe nipper-frame. Thejaws ofthe nipper are opened by means of the lever M, which has its fulcrum on the upper jaw, j, thelower end of which presses against the block t on thelowerjaw, 7c, when it is placed in the position shownin Fig. 5, and forces them apart; but when the lever M is turned to the position indicated by the red line it passes off from the block t and permits the jaws to be closed by the spring r. The lever is worked by the rod N, which slides through the standard O upon the frame K, and is provided with two adjustable stops or collars, Q and R, which alternately come in contactI with the standard O as the nipper-frame is moved back and forth, arresting the motion of the rod N, while the nipper-frame by its continued motion moves the lever M to one or the other of the positions shown, and thus opens or closes the jaws of the nipper. The stops Q and R are adjusted to openand close the jaws at the proper time by screwing along upon the rod N to the required position and securing them by binding-nuts, or in any other suitable manner. The tension of the spring r upon the jaws, respectively, is so adjusted that although both move apart the larger part of the motion is given to the upper one to better enable it to seize the material upon the table. Through the lower jaw, 7c, a slot, u, may be made, eX-

tending` across the blade, to allow a material to be fed that is continuous, or is not severed by the cutting-dies, as would be the case when holes only were cut through the material, or it was embossed by the dies, or other similar operations were performed by the dies placed in the machine, in which case the material, after it passed the dies, would pass down in the direction shown by the dotted red line in Fig. 5. In this case thejaws should be made wider than the material to be operated upon. Upon the top ofthe frame K is placed a plate, S, which forms a table upon which the strip of material is laid, and over this a spring presserplate, T, is placed, which holds the material to the table and makes a slight friction upon it as it is drawn forward by the nippers, and serves to keep the material extended and to hold it in position when the nippers have left it. In case the strip of material to be operated upon is required to remain continuous, the table S would be made to extend forward and surround the cutters, so as to raise off from the cutters all that part of the material that is not severed, so as to fallbelow and allow it to pass along.

U U are adjustable guides upon the table S, between which the strip of material is guided to the cutters.

V is a trough for conducting the waste material from the cutting-dies.

W is the fly-wheel ou the driving-shaft w, which, by means of the gears u and au, drives the main shaft B in an obvious manner.

The operation ol: the machine is as follows: The operator takes a strip of material ot' one or several thicknesses of the proper width to make the pieces required, and laying it upon the table S, between the-guides U, inserts one end beneath the presser plate, allowing it to project a little beyond. When the followerblock d is raised, the nippers j 7c approach the material, and at 4the limit of their motion the nippers are closed by the action of the lever M, before described, seizingthe material iirmly. As the nippers move in the opposite direction, the material is drawn forward under the presser-plate T until, by the action of the lever M and its adjuncts, the nippers are forced open and the material released. The nippers continue to move until the jaws have passed beyond the cutters, when the follower-block descends and forces the material onto the cutters, leaving a part of it within the cutters and a part without. The frame K then raises the material outside of the cutters, and the operation is automatically continued by the machine.

In order to enable the nippers to release the material with accuracy, the cam b is made at the part e, so as to give a slow motion to the nipper-frame at that time.

The employment of two or more dies in my machine is not simply for the purpose of eX- pediting the work, but is for the purpose of l using dissimilar dies or cutters, which will i fit up to each other so as to leave the least practicable amount of waste material between them, and also to leave the uncut material in such a shape that the next operation ofthe same cutters will not leave a large amount of waste between the cuts.

The manner of arranging the cutters and the number employed at once would vary accordin g to the form of the articles required to be made-as,'for instance, where a considerable piece of' the material would be left between two large pieces whose prominent parts were contiguous, another cutting-die might be employed in combination with the first, which would cut from that surplus piece some object that would be used in the manufacture of such form as the size and shape of the piece would permit, or two pieces of irregular forms might be cut at once, so arranged that the prominent parts of one would iit into the receding parts ofthe otherin succession and other arrangements of a like nature could be made.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Combining in one machine the three folllowin g elementary parts ot' mechanism-namely, a cutting or embossing apparatus, consisting of one or more cutting or embossing dies and a device for forcing the material onto them a table and presser for holding and guiding the material properlyT to the cutting or embossing apparatus, and a reciprocating nipper or clamp for drawing the material forward from the table over the dies to the proper position to be operated upon by them,

and then releasing it and retiring to permit the dies to operate, the whole being made to cooperate automatically, substantially as described.

2. The employment, incombination with the cutting or embossing apparatus, of a rising and falling table and presser-plate, operating substantially as described.

3. The employment, in combination with the cutting or embossing apparatus, of the feedin g nippers or clamps, which seize and convey the material to the proper position over the dies, and then release it and retire, to permit the dies to operate, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the feeding nippers or clamps, operating as described, With a rising and falling table, and rising and falling with it, substantially as described.

5. Opening and closing thejaws of the nipper or clamp by means ofthe lever M, rod N, and adjustable stops Q and R, or their equivalents, and spring r, co-operating with the longitudinal movement of the nippers, substantially as described.

6. Inclining the axes of the cutting-dies toward each other, so as to bring their contiguous edges close together when more than 011e are used, substantially as described.

Executed at Boston this 2d day of January,

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON. Witnesses W. W. LUMMUs, WM. C. HIBBARD. 

